Well, the report of Empris is wrong. A friend of mine (working for CTBUH), knows a few guys from Turner who are involved in the project. There is no height reduction.

The images: The convention center itsself is still under-construction, but even not the tower. I might be wrong, but my bet is that the chances are less than 50% to get built, although I like the design.

__________________One World Trade Center= the best skyscraper in the world and the tallest in the Western HemisphereAll the way with LBJ

^ Why do you think so many keep getting stopped? There's money, but not necessarily demand. Once they realize how bad of an investment a giant tower is that will flood the real estate market with thousands of square meters of space, killing prices, they may tread lightly. Unless they are more like Chinese, or Burj Khalifa in which case they don't care.

^ Why do you think so many keep getting stopped? There's money, but not necessarily demand. Once they realize how bad of an investment a giant tower is that will flood the real estate market with thousands of square meters of space, killing prices, they may tread lightly. Unless they are more like Chinese, or Burj Khalifa in which case they don't care.

Does anyone else feel like the next big economic bubble will be all of this investment in developing countries?

Is this a result of too much central planning?

Does ego of Middle-Eastern rulers play a role?

Is this partly a result of a need to prove a given civilization is equal to the West?

Do you think a lot of these domestic elements in the Middle-East and elsewhere are being taken advantage of by Western insurers, bankers, investers, etc?

eventually they will end up like dubai that almost went bankrupt after the burj khalifa...china is my next bet on the next bubble to burst..there economy is slowing..there buildings are a large percentage vacant, and they keep building more..

I'm not buying the bit about the tower having been postponed about concerns from the airport.

How come? So far we have a source indicating it is so. Do you have sources that indicate otherwise? I assume not, so why propose such assertions? Is it generic skepticism, or do you expect developer dishonesty so deeply entrenched that it made its way into local media? To me, this seems like a legitimate concern. One World Trade Center itself was forced into a major redesign after local authorities (here, the police instead of aviation authorities) insisted that the skyscraper's then-current configuration was unsafe.